Subhash Chopra made Delhi Cong chief, Kirti Azad new campaign head

The Congress party on Wednesday appointed Subhash Chopra as the chief of its Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) months ahead of Assembly polls in the national capital. He will replace former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who passed away in July this year. Chopra has held the post from 1998 to June 2003.

On the other hand, cricketer-turned-politician and former MLA Kirti Azad, who left the Bharatiya Janata Party to join the Congress in February, has been made chief of the campaign committee of Delhi Congress. Congress also appointed M Okendro as the new president of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee, replacing Gaikhangam Gangmei. The appointments were made by Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

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Longtime Congressman

Subhash Chopra is a three-time MLA from Kalkaji and was first elected as a member of the Delhi Assembly in 1998. He retained his seat in 2003 and 2008 elections. He was also a Speaker of the Delhi Assembly between June 2003 and December 2003.

Chopra has the uphill task of bringing the Congress party back to power in Delhi, where it failed to win a single seat in the 2015 Assembly elections. The party tasted defeat again in the Lok Sabha polls of 2014 and 2019.

Chopra started his political career as a student leader and was elected as president of Delhi University Students Union from 1970 to 71. He also holds a diploma in criminal law.

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Back to Delhi after two decades

Kirti Azad, whose name was earlier doing the rounds for the post of DPCC chief, was appointed as chairman of the campaign committee of Delhi Congress. A former cricketer and son of former Bihar Chief Minister Bhagwat Jha Azad, he returned to the Delhi Congress after a gap of almost 20 years. He was earlier an MLA from Gole Market in 1993, but lost the next election and then went over to contest from Darbhanga constituency in Bihar.

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